Shorts, a Drabble Series
by Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena
Summary: As the title presumes, a collection of very short passages on Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the woman he loved, and loved him. She is the Viceroy of a neutral system, and a great ally to the Jedi and the Republic. Also, they are other SW-related drabbles. RNR PLS!
1. Secret

Characters: Obi-wan / OC

Kourei watched as Anakin Skywalker secretly engaged the young Senator Amidala via holo-message, in a little-traffic hallway of Palace Ornari, where Obi-Wan and the former, along with their Clones were stationed to recover from their previous battle agaist the Separatists. Grinning, she decided to walk away unseen. She was, is, just like them. She was the Viceroy of Ornari, and she held a great secret. Little did she know that her secret was just waiting for her behind a silken curtain, enveloping her in his strong arms. He, like his former Padawan, was a Jedi... a Jedi Master with a seat on the Jedi High Council. His smoldering grey eyes, his Coruscanti accent that drove her nuts at first, suddenly seemed to be everything she was fighting for in the Clone Wars. Quietly, she takes his hand and leads him into her private quarters. With him, she was no longer Ar-Kourei the Viceroy, she was just, Kourei, the girl who loved her people so much that she fought alongside the Republic in the Clone Wars. "Does your former Padawan know about us?" she asked as the young Jedi Master started to lavish her with slow, gentle kisses to her neck and lips.

His answer was a genuine one, short, concise and to the point. "Is he married to Senator Amidala?"


	2. Fate

Characters: OC/Luke/Obi-Wan, Darth Revan, Anakin (Mentioned)

She was never a strong woman. She even cried when her pet bunny died. But when the Viceroy of Ornari heard from the very mouth of this young Jedi who the world claimed was Anakin Skywalker's son that Obi-Wan had died, she did not even shed a tear. Perhaps she had already known, that this day would come. She was an immortal sentient, and he, a mere Human Jedi. It was natural that Humans died. That was why the Ornarian Elders did not encourage their romance. She might not be old enough to see the dark terrors of Darth Revan or any ancient Sith Lord, but she was still old enough to have seen the better days of the Republic, and young enough to believe in love… She had chosen to love a mortal Jedi, and she had foreseen this day would come to pass.

"Young Master Skywalker," she said to Anakin's son. "When you rebuild the Jedi Order, teach your Padawan, er, apprentices that love is a vital component of the Force that cannot be ignored or suppressed."

He nods and bows curtly before leaving, hesitating for a moment to ponder what the word "Padawan" meant.


	3. Dirty Jobs

Characters: Kit Fisto/Clone Trooper

"Why do we always get the dirty jobs?" a Clone Trooper complained while shooting down droids in a swampy, muddy planet between the Mid Rim and the Outer Rim. Throughout the 458 days of battle he had seen, this was by far, the WORST. He had mud in his boots, was shot in the forearm… Yes, Clone Trooper 1146 knew that he was like all his other brothers, but superior genetic alteration with specific programming and training to personify the sheer power of the Grand Republic Army, he was still human, and biologically 10 years old, growth acceleration notwithstanding. The sight of his brothers falling dead all around him did not make the situation for 1146 any easier, and he was beginning to think that all hope would be lost. However, a strange presence suddenly came next to him. A green mass of head-tails and that wide grin… "Ah, General Fisto, come to join us?" 1146 knew not why he lightened up in a split second, but he was sure pleased to see the Jedi Master around.

Kit Fisto laughed heartily. "Well, my friend, being in the battlefield is not the worst place one could be," He could sense the Clone Trooper's eyebrow being raised. "Look at it this way. You could be a teenager in a crèche chamber filled with month-old younglings waiting for you to change their diapers…"

Jedi Kit Fisto did not wait for the reaction that would come from Clone Trooper 1146, and charged forwards to rejoin the battle. He knew that 1146 would NEVER EVER complain again because he knew how bad it was to be a teenager crèche chamber filled with month-old younglings waiting for you to change their diapers. And from that day onwards, he NEVER EVER tried to hotwire Master Yoda's hover-chair ever again.


	4. Dishes

Characters: Delta Squad/ CC01/425/Aayla Secura. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku (Mentioned)

Delta 1262, affectionately known as Scorch, hated doing the dishes as much as he loved blowing stuff up. Granted, he was probably the best-known Clone demolitions expert in the GAR, but still, he had to do the dishes, all because he racked one less droid-kill than Delta 1207, also known as Sev, during the Battle of Geonosis. He was a Republic Commando, for goodness sake! In all technicality, he was the exact replica of Jango Fett, for the only modification him and his Clone Commando brothers got was growth acceleration… He was above doing the dishes!

Aboard the Acclamator-class assault ship, the Prosecutor, Delta Squad was relieving the victory of the Grand Army of the Republic on Geonosis as a whole. Even the Jedi on board looked especially happy, except for that tall, blonde one who was missing an arm. "That's the Jedi Anakin Skywalker," their Advisor, CC-01/425, said. "Intel said that he and his Master dueled with the Confederacy big-shot Count Dooku."

"Wow, must be quite a battle," Sev commented, before a very, very beautiful Rutian Twi'lek female caught his eyes. "Look, Boss, hot female at four o'clock,"

Boss, Delta 1138, the leader of the squad looked at the female with slight interest in his eyes. "A fine specimen indeed," he said in Mando'a, fearful that the female would understand them.

Just then, CC-01/425 chuckled and added, "She's Aayla Secura, a Jedi Knight. I didn't know that you fancied a probable superior, Delta 07." By the look of on Sev's face, Socrch immediately found a brighter spot for his day. Yep, he felt that he loved doing the dishes, for the first time in his life. Granted, it was the best day of his life, given the opportunity to see Sev squirt a jet stream of water out of his nose.

Delta 40, Fixer, just stared at his brothers, and rubbed his temples. For the Republic's elite squad of commandos, they were all a bunch of idiots.


	5. Origins

Characters: Leia Organa/Kourei/Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Palpatine (mentioned)

When Leia Organa heard from Luke that Obi-Wan Kenobi had loved the Viceroy of Ornari, she could not help but went to visit her after the second Death Star was destroyed. She had known Kourei since her youth, and knew how badly she hated the Empire. The citizens of Ornari, especially the female ones were constantly enslaved due to their exceptional beauty, Ithildain, Twi'lek or Togrutan, due to her vocal objections against the Empire's endeavors. Now, she was in the Palace Ornari, in the chambers of the Viceroy herself. "You knew that I was Darth Vader's daughter all along?" she asked Kourei, their hands clasped in one another's. "You knew and never told me?"

Kourei just chuckled, citing that Bail Organa had sworn her to secrecy after he knew of Luke and Leia's existence. "Anakin Skywalker was never wholly evil, child, he turned to the Dark Side because he feared the loss of the lives of his wife, his former Master, and his great friend who betrayed him," Kourei knew Anakin Skywalker ever since he and Obi-Wan were sent by the Jedi Council to help her resolve a rebellion set on by a power-hungry Togrutan official in the Ornarian court that happened almost immediately after the Battle of Naboo. After that, she and the Jedi Council worked together for various causes, and through the span of ten years, she and Obi-Wan Kenobi had fallen in love, and decided to keep it a secret from everyone… From both near and far, she had watched both Kenobi and Skywalker bond into the most indestructible team in the galaxy, while being a close companion to Padme Amidala; there was an utmost certainty that she would know everything about Luke and Leia. "Darth Vader was a result, created by a thousand years of careful manipulation by the Sith, the gradual corruption of the Galactic Republic, and the apathy of the Jedi Council towards the Chosen One…"

Leia listened to Kourei relate everything that happened during the thirteen years she had known her parents and the man who trained them. Some parts of the narrative were indeed familiar to her, but others had details that Bail Organa had certainly censored in order to protect her. Also, she had never known that her father once had an apprentice who was killed in the middle of the Clone Wars… It was so overwhelming, so damned frustrating that she was connected to so much to do with the fall of the Republic. Wait, if she was not conceived, her father would not have had those nightmares where he saw her mother dying in childbirth. He could have destroyed the Sith and fulfilled the prophecy.

"Leia, remove those thoughts from your head!" Kourei berated, "You were loved by your parents before you were born and nothing would change that!" There were tears in her violet eyes, which shocked Leia to no end. "Let these tales bring you to the future which your parents fought and died for, child. Let what I have told you be the tales that bring the Republic from the ashes… Do not let the efforts of nigh a million Clone Troopers, the Jedi Order and countless of billions of lives go to waste. Henceforth, let their strength be yours."

The young princess nodded. "Thank you, Kourei," she said, hugging her friend. "If only you would just come out and help us…"

"If by telling you a few tales of the past would aid you, then I would have helped the Rebel Alliance enough. And remember, the moment a new democracy is born, please do not hesitate to seek Ornari as its member."


	6. Truth Or Dare

Characters: A lot of dead Jedi, which includes Anakin Skywalker/Padme

It was a fun day for all the Force-ghosts in the Netherworld of the Force. After his imminent death, Anakin Skywalker actually found himself being forgiven by literally almost every Jedi he killed, along with his mother and Padme, as well as Qui-Gon, and now, about a month later, he was playing Truth or Dare with his wife and fellow Jedi.

"Well, Master Yoda, Truth or Dare?" Mace Windu asked when it was his turn to spin the makeshift arrow, which pointed to Yoda.

The little green Jedi Master scratched his tiny little chin and said, "Hmm, Truth I chose. Be made into a fool by dressing like young Skywalker's daughter in Jabba the Hutt's palace, I will not." That sentence made everyone around them snicker uncontrollably, the experience itself suggested by Kit Fisto, as payback for being made to change the diapers of month-old younglings in the crèche chamber when he was a teenaged Padawan.

Mace Windu nodded compliantly, and said. "Okay… Did you find Master Yaddle hot?"

Immediately, Yoda's ears shot up in the mere shock followed by Windu's scandalous question. "Think of such matters, the Jedi do not!" he scolded, only to be reminded by Qui-Gon Jinn that they were already dead and that he should lighten up. However, by the time the Jedi and Padme actually got the answer out of Yoda, they decided that he was uselessly uptight and decided to ignore him until the game was over.

Poor, poor Yoda… But, being ignored by those ingrates did not mean that he could not watch them continue to play Truth or Dare. In the end, he managed to watch Shaak Ti doing a striptease, Aayla Secura French-kissing Padme (to young Skywalker's shock and secret amusement), Mace Windu quacking like a duck, and Kit Fisto being impaled by various sharp objects…

Well, if this would be the way to spend your life after your death, then it would be the way Yoda would want it to be, with the Force in balance, and Qui-Gon Jinn being beaten up by Tahl for once having a lewd dream about her in his youth…

The next time they played Truth or Dare, he would make young Padme Amidala do something with Obi-Wan to take revenge on Anakin Skywalker for killing millions and millions of innocent beings and destroying the Jedi Order.

Oh yeah, the afterlife that would be, Yoda thought before laughing so evilly that someone thought Darth Sidous had infiltrared the Good Guy's side of the Netherworld of the Force.


	7. Irony

Chewbacca studied the old man he knew was Ben Kenobi very carefully on board the Millennium Falcon, running through the memories of his past constantly as he repeated the name "Kenobi" over and over again. Why was that name so familiar to him? And where the heck did he hear the name "Skywalker" before?

Then, as if he was shot by a blaster-bolt, he opened his eyes and began to pick out those tiny specks of memory to replay in his mind. He had met Obi-Wan before, when he was just a little pup by Wookie standards with his Master, who had been a great Jedi. Yowling that he remembered Ben, Han Solo had no choice but to translate. "Chewie says that he remembers you," Han said, in a confused tone. "He said that you were the little Padawan named Obi-Wa…"

There was a short pause. A brief pause which ended in Han Solo shouting, "OBI-WAN KENOBI! OBI-WAN KENOBI! I GREW UP WANTING TO BE YOU AND ANAKIN SKYWALKER!" Obi-Wan immediately pulled Han Solo down by his collar and covered his mouth, signaling that Luke was still asleep and he didn't want the kid to be abruptly woken up. "Wait…" he said, stopping suddenly. Anakin Skywalker was the Hero with No Fear, and the kid was Luke SKYWALKER… "I thought Jedi couldn't…"

"There were some… exceptions…" Obi-Wan said, leaving Han Solo to forge his own conclusions. He had heard the public story that Anakin Skywalker had fallen with the rest of the Jedi when Order 66 was brought down. The young Solo would have spent his childhood pretending to be himself or Anakin, or any other Jedi, fighting the Separatists…

How ironic that become, that Han Solo, who yearned to even pretend to be the two greatest Jedi in the history of the Galactic Republic, would transport Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin's Skywalker to the Death Star, commanded by Darth Vader, who was but a dark shadow of what he once was…


	8. Pranks

Characters: Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Padme Amidala/Mace Windu/Yoda/Kit Fisto

Being dead was good, it meant that whatever anyone did to you, you can't die. So, if you were Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was definitely a good thing. They were even able to mix up Padme's hair products with Mace Windu's speeder coolant fluids to huge comic effect. Screams like "Ani, I'll have that head of yours right now!" or "Kenobi, being dead doesn't mean that I can't kill you!" could be heard for an entire day in the Netherworld of the Force. Oh yes, it was a beautiful day for a well-arranged prank.

"Hide forever, you cannot," Yoda said when the former Master and Padawan were hiding out in his hut. "Find you, they will, before lunchtime." It was a risk they would have to take, and it would be a serious one, at that, if they wanted to live their afterlives in peace, not in pieces.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Master, I think that it would be best that we just stay here for awhile," he said, checking around for any signs of Padme and/or Mace Windu. However, it was too fine a day to remain indoors.

Anakin voiced his agreement. "I agree, speeder coolant on Padme's hair is not a pretty sight, not especially in the mornings," he added. "And hair-growth conditioner well, would not work on Master Windu… Wait, maybe with enough luck, he might grow enough hair to be a Wookie!" Suddenly, there was a fell silence. It was strange that Obi-Wan did not retort immediately… "Master… Master Yoda…" The two of them just pointed behind him. "I know, Padme and Windu are behind me, aren't they?"

Obi-Wan and Yoda nodded and ran away as fast as they could, leaving him to face the wrath of his wife and a Jedi Master second only to Yoda. "So, not a pretty sight, am I now Ani?" Padme demanded.

"Grow enough hair to be a Wookie, will I, young Skywalker?" Mace Windu asked, cracking his joints with a smug expression on his face.

For the next morning, the Son of the Suns, Anakin Skywalker was forced to wax Mace Windu's speeder until it shined ten times over and wash, style and cut Padme's hair until she was satisfied. For something that sounded so mundane, it was holy torture for the Chosen One. Kit Fisto, who decided to stop over and give some sound advice to Anakin, said, "Well, Anakin, at least you did not hot-wire Master Yoda's hoverchair…"


	9. A Leaf Finds Its Roots

Characters: Kourei/Obi-Wan

This is a Kourei-centric poem written to the melody of Wang Lee Hom's Luo Ye Gui Gen [A Falling Leaf Finds Its Roots]

So, the repeated words are actually part of the chorus.

Hope you like it!

I've never seen how fair the sky was,

Until the day I saw you.

The clouds were floating by,

And the stars were dancing too…

I forgot how blue the sky,

Or how bright the sun…

And until you came here,

I was not the same again.

Oh, warrior strong…

Why do you torment me so?

There is not a reason

Why "we" can't be…

A war in the stars, hope undying,

I have seen it all.

Our love is like

We found our roots,

We're no longer the same.

All I want to be is to be by your side,

I shall bear it all.

A few parts of joy,

The others of pain,

I will take it all.

For my heart has found its roots

So, I will wait for you…

I have seen so many things,

So have you, and I know:

That you have never felt this way.

You have lived a sheltered life,

You're sheltered from your own heart.

You claim you can control the Force,

But in truth in controls you.

Oh young Knight, so strong,

The world has been cruel on you.

Are these _attachments_ just mere challenges?

A war in the stars, hope undying,

I have seen it all.

Our love is like

We found our roots,

We're no longer the same.

All I want to be is to be by your side,

I shall bear it all.

A few parts of joy,

The others of pain,

I will take it all.

For my heart has found its roots

So, I will wait for you…

Even if it takes a lifetime,

I would still be here.

No matter whatever happens,

I swear that I won't change.

All I want to be is to be by your side,

I shall bear it all.

A few parts of joy,

The others of pain,

I will take it all.

For my heart has found its roots

So, I will wait for you…


	10. Pranks in the Jedi Temple

Characters: Kourei / Obi-Wan Kenobi / Anakin Skywalker / Yoda / Kit Fisto, Mace Windu (Mentioned)

Pranks were a common thing in the Jedi Temple, where hundreds of Jedi lived, learnt and well, had fun with each other. More often than not, it would be Yoda who would initiate such tricks, and the younglings he taught would follow suit. However, when the Viceroy of Ornari was visiting, the younglings had tons more fun. Every single Jedi knew that the Ar-Kourei as close a non-Jedi could get to being a sort-of honorary Jedi, given her past track record for aiding the Jedi Order, and that she absolutely loved children. Why, she was the one who secretly egged Kit Fisto on to hotwire Yoda's hover-chair and told Mace Windu that he looked better without any hair on his head…

So, one brilliant and peaceful morning, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker woke up to the scent of Ornarian rose-tea and something so sinister that Master and Padawan dared not utter after the incident had passed.

Oh yes, the entire Jedi Temple was filled with screams of "I will kill Kourei right now!" "Why the hell is my hair pink!" and "Master, I believe that you're wearing a rather skimpy Ornarian female swimsuit…" Strangely, despite the trademark pink dye that the Ornarian Viceroy always used, she could not be found by the pair.

"Well Master Yoda," Kourei said in the Jedi Council Chamber with Yoda, sipping a hearty swig of Alderaanian wine. "For one of the most famous pairs of Master and Padawan, Kenobi and Skywalker are rather… slow, aren't they?"

Yoda chuckled. "Hmmm, saw through them you have. Like to be the butt of their own pranks, they do not. Perhaps the younglings have more fun, the younglings will, and learn from the master, they will."

To that, Kourei said nothing, but raised her wine-glass and dipped her head slightly as a sign of recognition. It would not be long before Anakin and Obi-Wan found her, and she had best find herself a decent hiding-place before they could lay their hands on her. _That_ would be a really funny sight at her own expense, after all.


	11. Hope

Characters: Kourei/Bunch of Younglings/ Lil Bariss Offee/Solomon Goldsmith, Otonashi Saya and Diva (Borrowed from Blood+)

"A long, long time ago, there was a Knight, who fell in love with a Queen," Kourei said to the class of Jedi younglings that she had volunteered to substitute before her meeting with Master Yoda. "But, the Queen's sister, another Queen, and the one he served, would not allow it, and ordered all her minions to stop them from meeting one another." She smiled, looking at the reactions of the younglings, quite remembering her own when she had heard that ancient tale for the first time. "And when the Knight found out, he tried everything that he could to see his beloved once again, only to experience the worst failure…"

Then, a little Mirallian female raised her hand and asked, "Lady Ar-Kourei, did the Knight kill the other Queen before trying to meet the one he loved?"

Kourei chuckled, and nodded. "Yes, he gave in to the Dark Side, for a moment, to seek what he thought was right, but in the end, when he saw the frail, defenselessness of his own Master, he repented, and was struck down in the cruelest way."

The younglings all ooohed and aaahed at the ending of Kourei's story, and she took the opportunity to teach them about the need for balance of the Force within oneself, and also the Force as a whole. She would have taught them about non-attachment, but that would have been too hypocritical of her to do so, for obvious reasons. Her understanding of the Force, had been that of the Potentium, in which there was only the Force, which her former-Jedi mentor taught her about. And now, she would pass this almost-extinct school of thought to these younglings.

Soon after the class had ended, their Jedi Minder came back from her appointment, and Kourei was on her way. She knew that although these younglings might not have put much thought of her unorthodox words, but one of them would surely remember, and interpret those words into her own theories. That youngling was Bariss Offee, a future Jedi Knight, whom Kourei knew would rise just as high as the new recruit, Anakin Skywalker.


	12. Death

Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Ar-Kourei/Darth Vader, Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewie (Mentioned)

Obi-Wan Kenobi could only think of Kourei when he was dueling Darth Vader on the Death Star. Was she safe on Ornari? Had she thought of him, and was she heartbroken of Vader's treason? He knew it well, that she had loved Anakin just as much as he did, and believed deeply in the Chosen One… For nineteen years, he had not seen her, for she had evacuated Ornari and its people to the far vestiges of the Outer Rim, where the Empire could not dream to find the Ornarians. As a result, she had lost contact with her Republic allies, him included.

"_When you leave tomorrow morning, Obi-Wan, we shall never see each other again…" _she had said before she fell asleep the last night they were together. _"The Republic has ceased to be that great beacon of hope and light, and I fear Ornari's neutrality and opposition in the Senate would not be taken lightly…"_ He could remember the faint glimmer in her eye, telling him wordlessly that she would miss him dearly. He drew her into his arms that night, and kissed her, reassuring her that the Force would not be so cruel as to desert them both.

Oh, how wrong he was. Stroke after stroke, his battle with Darth Vader soon became a hopeless effort to buy time for Luke to escape with Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca. He had been a master of Soresu, but it seemed that his own skill had eluded him, not because he had greatly aged, but because he knew what was waiting for him. Knowing that Luke and Leia would be safe, he gave up, closed his eyes and deactivated his lightsaber. Death came to him quickly, and when his bodily form disintegrated into nothingness, he started to see the faces of Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme, Mace Windu and the many friends and teachers he had aquired. Still, there was no sign of Kourei. A good sign, a very good sign, indeed.

"_I will love you, my Knight," _Kourei's sweet voice softly billowed in his ear. "_I will never forget you…"_

"I love you too, Kourei," Obi-Wan murmured, and walked into the light. Hopefully, he would never see her here, in the Netherworld of the Force. It would be his greatest wish now.


	13. Fire

Characters: Kourei/Obi-Wan/Ahsoka/Anakin (Mentioned)

"You must be Force-sensitive to be able to summon these wolves," Ahsoka Tano said to Kourei as she was recuperating in Palace Ornari with her master and Obi-Wan along with their entire fleet. The Ornarian Viceroy had summoned her familiars, which acted as her flaming guardians and her pets to set a parameter of unseen barriers lest the Separatists found the recovering fleet before they were in full combat capacity. "Why aren't you a Jedi, Lady Kourei?"

Kourei chuckled. "My midi-chlorian count is one digit lower than the minimum needed to qualify as a Jedi, child," she answered, playing with a ball of fire that she had formed on the palm of her hand. "Yet, these midi-chlorians have granted me the ability to create and utilize Fire, as my people have mastered Ice, Water, Lightning and the Wind... So, in a way, we are genetically as capable as the Jedi, without the high midi-chlorian count needed, for we use the Force in different ways," It was only then did Obi-Wan appear, and told Ahsoka that she was needed by Anakin for some repairs on R2D2, the trusty astromech droid. Without any suspicion, the young Padawan nodded, and skipped towards the hangar bay, where her Master would surely be, leaving Obi-Wan with the young Viceroy.

After making sure that the coast was clear, he gently cupped her softly heated skin, and whispered, "Indeed, the Ithildain use the Force in different ways, Kourei." He kissed her forehead, fingers entwined with hers, and added, "You were always that spark of Fire that had beckoned me to you…"

"Hmph, who was it then, who said that the Force had pulled us together?"

The Jedi Master did not retaliate her playful jab, but only pressed his lips against hers, stopping her from speaking further. Sometimes he just did not know what to do with her, but he knew that he could not live the remainder of his life without her. After the Clone Wars have ended, after Anakin had destroyed the Sith and brought balance, maybe, just maybe, he would petition to the Jedi Council to change the old, arcane rules regarding attachment. Then, he would bring his Fire-spirit to the Jedi Temple, so that she could be with the younglings, as she had always wanted to, and perhaps bring a few of their own into the world…

However, a Jedi does not let these thoughts last for long, but Obi-Wan forgot a crucial point. He was more than a Jedi, having leading many countless Republic victories against the Separatists, and killed the first Sith Lord in a thousand years. More importantly, he loved Kourei, and for her, for them, it made all the difference in the world.


	14. Reunion

Characters: Kourei/Obi-Wan

Obi-Wan Kenobi was devastated. Kourei was _not_ supposed to be here! There had to be a mistake, she was immortal! She could not die unless if she was killed, and after the fall of the tyrannical Galactic Empire, it was impossible that she would be killed by anyone! The bottom line was: She did not belong in the Netherworld of the Force. As much as he wanted to see her again, he had not wished to see her there, standing so serenely before him. "Why?" was the only word he managed to ask her. He was too heartbroken to know that she had died, although they were all one with the Force.

She shook her head, not wanting to tell him anything. Ever since he had left Ornari that day during the height of the Clone Wars, her heart had been shattered into pieces. She remained outwardly strong, and inwardly broken even after the Empire was defeated. So much that she had lost the child she never imagined they could have, and slowly slipped into despair. She had heard of Order 66, and was devastated, her grief being consoled momentarily when Bail Organa managed to locate the last free Ornarian outpost in the Outer Rim, telling her that Obi-Wan and Yoda survived, along with Padme's children, but when Luke came to her after the Battle of Endor, he told her that Obi-Wan had died, which was the catalyst of her further downward spiral. Then, when she could not take it any longer, she resigned as the Ornarian Viceroy and well, went to sleep. The moment she woke up, she was welcomed by Yoda and Mace Windu, who led her to Obi-Wan.

"Kourei, forgive me," Obi-Wan said, holding her in his arms, as he had did before so long ago. He had caused her a lot of pain, pain that she did not deserve to go through to start with. It was his entire fault, and he paid the worst of prices, to see his immortal Ithildain beloved with him in the Netherworld of the Force.

She smiled, and stoked his handsome cheeks, feeling inwardly relieved that he had chosen to retain the appearance of his youth in this stage of his after-life. It would always be this likeness of his that she had known, the light of his grey eyes filled with wisdom and dry sarcasm. "There is nothing to forgive, Obi-Wan," she whispered, feeling safe for the first time in many, many years. "We are here now, and nothing can part us now,"

It was true, nothing could stand in their way now. After a lifetime of war and separation, they were finally, truly together. No more Ar-Kourei the Viceroy of Ornari, or Obi-Wan Kenobi the Jedi Master who was the hero of the Clone Wars, Just Kourei and Obi-Wan, a woman, and the man that loved her. At last, things fell into perfect equilibrium, and there was nothing to stop it.


	15. Opportunity Cost

She looks towards him, unbidden and unaware of how her fierce violet eyes demanded his attention. He was sent to protect her, to protect Ornari from falling into civil war, as a first mission as a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, not to fall in love with the immortal Viceroy. She dances with the young men around her, and he wished that it was him who held her… Those were not the thoughts a Jedi should have, but somehow, it felt so right at the time. In the color, glamour and splendor of the New Year's Ball celebrated in Mellon-Mir, the capitol city of Ornari, he seemed to have forgotten that her life was in danger…

The assassin creeps close to his target, ever so sure that she could rid Ornari of the young Ithildain upstart born into nobility, elected into power. His employers needed her dead, not because of her deep-seated power, but of her ideals. She was a great ally of the Jedi Order, and a firm voice against the apparent corruption of the Senate. If she had protested further, and refused to cooperate, they feared that Ornari would not be safe from her enemies without the support of the Senate. It was that simple. Yet, he does not know what true power was, nor that the Ithildain's mystical low-midichlorian Force mastery was particularly powerful within her.

When the dance was over, the grey-eyed Jedi Knight saw a Twi'Lek approaching the young Viceroy, armed with a small, concealed weapon. He was about to raise his lightsaber, to jump to her defense when she merely turned to her would-be assailant and stared at him. Immediately, the knife in his hand became red-hot, and he drops the weapon, shocking almost everyone else. Before the Jedi could get close to her, she had already immolated the assassin, leaving only but ashes.

She turns to him, and the music resumes. Clean-up droids were summoned to clean the mess, and the dancing resumes. They dance a simple dance, one that he could learn on the spot, and remain silent. Their gaze upon one another was lingering, and completely out of normalcy. It was tender, it was passionate, it made her feel safe. If this was the price to pay, to be almost assassinated, just to be with that Jedi Knight, it would be worth it.


	16. Little Ani

Watto did not like all the people that came to his shop asking where Little Ani had gone to. Often, that question would bring him the pain of losing his assets to the Hutts, and also one of best staff he ever had. The boy was a natural salesman and repairman, as well as an excellent pilot. But this woman who came to his shop so many years after Little Ani had left to become a Jedi, she asked him something different. There was no doubt that she was one of them Ornarian Ithildain, dressed almost like Jedi, but in rich cloth and golden embroidery at the necklines and hems, and one of prominence, for he remembered seeing her face on the HoloNet before not so long ago.

The question she asked him haunted him. "Do you know what happened to young Skywalker?" she said in a low whisper after he had confirmed to her that he once owned Little Ani. She did not wait for his answer. She just left almost as abruptly as she had came, soaring into the skies with an Eta-2 Actis-Class Interceptor bearing two circles, no doubt bought with a high price from the shop next to his (the owner claimed that he had salvaged it from Mustafar, where a Jedi had left it and never returned to claim it).

How the hell was he supposed to know where Little Ani was? He knew, that a few years before, Little Ani had come to see him, asking where Shmi was, accompanied by the Nubian servant-girl that came with the Jedi that freed him. He had never seen him again ever since, but he had heard of the extraordinary deeds that Little Ani did in the Clone Wars. Could he be dead, killed by the Clone Troopers like all the Jedi, or was he safe, hiding in some unknown planet waiting for revenge?

And then, just days after the Ithildain woman left, a bearded fellow came to him, asking for Holovids of the moment Little Ani won the race, and one where a young Ithildain woman had managed to curse in Huttese in words so foul that Jabba the Hutt was so impressed that he lifted the bounty on her head for burning his spice shipment to Ornari just because she had "spunk".

"People these days…" he muttered, and started to continue on his work. This time, he was sure not to sell any Nubian parts to anyone anymore.


End file.
